Yamaha Drums...No Hagi...but High End Prices?

It's interesting looking at Yamaha's new drum line, now made in Taiwan, Japan doesn't like making drums anymore?However, Yamaha still has the same high end prices on their drums like they did when Hagi was producing them.As if because the Yamaha logo is on them we are suppose to blindly pay high end prices for an inferior product?

My conclusion is that Yamaha Drums are not the same company everybody once knew,they have cut corners on their once heavy duty hardware and the drum shells are not the same as they use to be.

It's not that the drums are bad, but I think they loss something that they use to have, that made them unique.It's fine for endorsers to use because they don't pay for them, but for the rest of us that do, it might be smart to look elsewhere.Read the badge....Made in Taiwan......

Yes indeed, that is most unfortunate and was to be expected due to the rising cost of materials and interest in profit over quality. Most if not all companies have gotten on board when it comes to lowering their production costs. It's said that approximately over 60% of companies globally are looking overseas to produce their products to maintain larger profit margins in their pockets. However, as of now, Tama is still maintaining production within their country but have produced lower-end drums, which aren't that bad in Taiwan - and that's been trending over the past 15 years or so.

But of course the higher end drums are made in their native country. I have both Tama birch kits - one made in Japan and the other is a lower-end jazz kit which is also birch shells from Taiwan. Surprisingly I really like the lower-end kit. It has a great sound but feel the difference in weight due to skimping in materials. Current technologies are able to minimize type(s) of materials to such a degree of producing OK drum/gear. BUT, keeping high end prices for "Low-end products is .....absurd and an outright crime.

Here's the thing, you don't have to pay theseridiculous high prices for ANY kit! I paid about$1000.00 for the biggest kit I have which consistsof 2 bass drums, 3 rack toms two floors and a snareand it sounds about as good as anything I've heard.

I also have kits that cost less and sound better thanthe aforementioned one. Drum companies aren't reallymaking the money they used to because the averageconsumer just isn't paying these crazy prices for these "high end" kits. You used to be able to get a nice highend kit for a fair price but not anymore. I was in GuitarCenter the other day looking at a four piece DW kit with20" bass drum. The sale price for the kit was $3,500.00NO WAY!!!!

Sure, you'll get some well to do family that will go outand pay $25,000.00 for a replica of Neil Peart's kit for their kid who wants a set but experienced playersdon't fall for that hype. They can't afford to.

All those kits are for the endorsers anyway. They'reare not the bread and butter of the company anyway.It's like the $100,000 Nissan GT-R. Cool ride but the staple car and bread and butter of the company is the$25,000 Nissan Altima. The Gt-R's are for the far andfew between. Likewise for these drum companies andtheir high priced, high end drums.

In the end, buying the mid grade essential kits for yourself is what keeps the companies going. What you see the big boys using in the magazines is simply to get you in the doorto buy one of the bread and butter drum sets. And if you happen to be able to afford to walk out with one of those$10,000 butes then all the better...

Well said in seeing in another angle which is just as true as what I'm stating. Also, we can consider the type of drum heads available these days. Heads can make a huge difference in low-end kits. For me, I'll stay with the classic Remo heads. Recently, I changed the stock heads that came with my low-end Tama with Remo Coated Emperor for the low tom and for the high tom, Remo Fyberskin head. It really rounds out the sound to the overall kit which created that vintage tone. Very happy with it just perfect for the jazz gig I'm doing.

Also in how one tunes. I try to tune the drum to where'IT' likes to be rather than what particular pitch I wantto hear from it.

I believe that every drum has a sweet spot where each isat it's peak level of performance in terms of volume, tone,projection and sustain. Heads and head combination are keyhere. When done properly, it would have had to have beenan extremely horrid drum shell if you couldn't get it to sounddecent after applying these methods.

Your right D.I buy high end drums, but USED...either through a music store or Ebay, I am always searching for high end bargains.Drums that may be older, but were top of line for their time and can now be acquired at a real deal.

There are decades of used high end gear floating around out there, if you bargain hunt, it's amazing what you can find.